SRC-JXG S.B. 1197 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research CenterS.B. 1197 By: Moncrief Health Services 7/6/1999 Enrolled DIGEST Currently, Texas law does not set guidelines for operating a nursing home in which a trustee is appointed and emergency assistance funds are used. S.B. 1197 will exclude a person owning, controlling, or operating a nursing home in which a trustee is appointed and emergency assistance funds are used, from eligibility for issuance or renewal of a license as a nursing home operator, and will increase the penalty for occasions when trustees and emergency funds are appropriated. PURPOSE As enrolled, S.B. 1197 sets forth consequences for appointment of a trustee or expenditure of emergency assistance funds for a nursing or convalescent home. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 242D, Health and Safety Code, by adding Sections 242.0945 and 242.0946, as follows: Sec. 242.0945. QUALIFICATIONS OF TRUSTEES. (a) Authorizes a court to appoint a person to serve as a trustee under this subchapter only if the proposed trustee can meet certain conditions. (b) Requires a trustee to report to the court in the event that the trustee is unable to satisfy the requirements of Subsection (a)(1) or (2). (c) Authorizes the court to replace a trustee who is unable to satisfy the requirements of Subsection (a)(1) or (2), on the motion of any party or on the court's own motion. (d) Requires a trustee's charges to separately identify personal hours worked for which compensation is claimed. Authorizes a trustee's claim for personal compensation to include only compensation for activities related to the trusteeship and performed in or on behalf of the home. Sec. 242.0946. NEPOTISM PROHIBITION. Prohibits a person serving as a trustee under this subchapter from employing or otherwise appointing an individual to work with the trustee in the home who is related to the trustee within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity, as determined under Chapter 573, Government Code. SECTION 2. Amends Section 242.095(a), Health and Safety Code, to require the court to consider reasonable a rate that is equal to 150 percent of the maximum allowable rate for an owneradministrator under the state's Medicaid reimbursement rules, in determining the trustee's personal compensation for nursing facility administrator activities. Requires the court to determine the reasonableness of the trustee's personal compensation for other duties. Requires the court to review the reasonableness of the trustee's fees, on the motion of any party. Requires the court to reduce the amount if the court determines that the fees are not reasonable. SECTION 3. Amends Chapter 242D, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 242.102, as follows: Sec. 242.102. INELIGIBILITY FOR LICENSE. Provides that a license holder or controlling person who operates a home for which a trustee is appointed under this subchapter and with respect to which emergency assistance funds, other than funds used to pay the expenses of the trustee, are used under this subchapter is subject to exclusion from eligibility for certain provisions. Provides that exclusion under this section is governed by Section 242.0615. SECTION 4. Amends Chapter 12D, Penal Code, by adding Section 12.48, as follows: Sec. 12.48. CERTAIN OFFENSES RESULTING IN LOSS TO NURSING AND CONVALESCENT HOMES. Provides that, if it is shown on the trial of an offense under Chapter 31 or 32 that, as a result of a loss incurred because of the conduct charged, a trustee was appointed and emergency assistance funds, other than funds used to pay the expenses of the trustee, were used for a nursing or convalescent home under Chapter 242D, Health and Safety Code, the punishment for the offense is increased to the punishment prescribed for the next higher category of offense, except that a felony of the first degree is punished as a felony of the first degree. SECTION 5. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 6. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 7. Emergency clause.